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A Woman is a School is the first memoir and cultural anthropological book by Slow Factory founder, Céline Semaan. As a war-survivor and child refugee sharing endangered and discredited ancestral knowledge of the Global South, particularly tales from Lebanon from 1948 to 2023-the book follows the tradition of the hakawati, the storytellers of the Levant. Holding Indigenous knowledge and wisdom, Céline Semaan, a hakawati herself, documents what she has witnessed throughout her life and the lives of her family members, sharing her upbringing and cultures of resistance.
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“Either I marry Noor, or I will go to the convent.” سعاد, Céline’s grandmother
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Everyone should read this book because what is life if not the feminine urge (threat) to join a convent at some point?
Céline generously takes us into stories from her life that have shaped her life and work. She has the ability to artistically convey information that is both devastating and inspiring. She is herself a school because her family, mentors, and loved ones have taught her how to imagine a world outside of the colonial one that we live in and she in turn is working towards making that a relatively. Her story is everywhere on the spectrum of love to despair, yet سيلين is hopeful for a radical future that we can imagine collectively.
In a capitalist world, existing as a woman means that you will be harmed. But women also have the power to heal and educate past and future generations. نحن جنسنا ضيان (We are built strong and made to last)